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Research Paper. Session 4. More In-depth Information. Requirements: At least 2500 words (8-10 pages not including works cited) MLA formatting At least 7 scholarly sources Works cited page and in-text citations Evidence of orderly research process Evidence of orderly writing process.
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Research Paper Session 4
More In-depth Information Requirements: At least 2500 words (8-10 pages not including works cited) MLA formatting At least 7 scholarly sources Works cited page and in-text citations Evidence of orderly research process Evidence of orderly writing process
Research Stages • Choosing a topic • Establishing a thesis • Finding and evaluating evidence (notecards) • Organizing evidence (outline) • Writing the paper (rough draft) • Editing and revising the paper (peer editing, reverse outline) • Perfecting the final product (final draft)
Choosing a Topic Are you curious enough about this topic to cohabit with it for the next two months? What do you already know? What do you want to find out? Can you easily find good scholarly sources that you need for the paper? Does the topic fall within your professor's requirements?
Avoid topics that are Too broad: Civil Rights in America (needs to be more specific) Too controversial: Abortion Not controversial enough: Drunk Driving Too new or too current: Limiting Mt. Everest climbers per year Too obscure: Tattoos in the Coast Guard
Library Access! • You need to know your id number. • Go here: http://www.bakersfieldcollege.edu/library/ • If you can't access, call this number from MTWR 9 to 6: 661-395-4461.
Recognizing Scholarly Sources Basics: Usually "Peer-reviewed" Field specific vocabulary Will have a bibliography, works cited, or reference page.
Purpose of the source Scholarly or professional sources wish primarily to advance knowledge or to report on developments in their field. Usually original research or a new presentation of older work. The audience is professionals, academics, researchers and students in universities or specialized programs. Payment?
Credentials of author The author needs to be a scholar and an expert in the field. If the source does not name the author, then it is unusable.
Various other checks Minimal or no advertising . . . Why? Footnotes Endnotes Illustrations are informational rather than narrative Formal writing style 1st person is becoming more acceptable in academia.
Popular sources usually written by professional writers or journalists that deal regularly with a variety of subjects. research time is short because of lead time usually do not have a degree in the subject rely on the research of others for information
Scientists Learn to Breed Alcoholic Animals February 21, 1999 By Eric Newhouse Tribune Projects Editor Scientists are learning a lot about alcoholism by watching lab animals get drunk. They have discovered that alcoholism isn't just a human weakness — it can be induced in monkeys, rats and mice by changing the chemical levels in their brains or by adding stress to their lives. And scientists now can prove that the disease is genetic. They can breed rats that crave alcohol, are indifferent to it, or hate it. When U.S. Department of Health and Human Services researchers set up a system in which rats were required to press a lever to get a drink, alcohol-craving rats were 10 times more likely to do so http://www.vat19.com/blog/2008/08/
Conservationists Hail Hilton Drunk Elephants Appeal Associated Press Tuesday 13 November 2007 Conservationists today hailed the socialite Paris Hilton, who was convicted of drink driving earlier this year, for apparently trying to highlight the problem of binge-drinking elephants in north-eastern India. Activists said the celebrity endorsement would raise awareness of the plight of pachyderms that got drunk on farmers' homemade rice beer and went on the rampage. Last month, six wild elephants that broke into a farm in the state of Meghalaya were electrocuted after discovering and drinking the potent brew before uprooting an electricity pylon. "There would have been more casualties if the villagers hadn't chased them away," Hilton was quoted as saying in Tokyo last week according to a report posted on the World Entertainment News Network website. "And four elephants died in a similar way three years ago. It is just so sad. "The elephants get drunk all the time. It is becoming really dangerous. We need to stop making alcohol available to them." Photograph: Toru Yamanaka/AFP/Getty Images Conservationists
Scholarly Resource "Animal Modes in Academic Research"
Works Cited "Conservationists Hail Hilton Drunk Elephants Appeal." Guardian. N.p., 13 Nov. 2007. Web. 20 Aug. 2010. Newhouse, Eric. "Scientists Learn to Breed Alcoholic Animals." Great Falls Tribune. N.p., 19 Feb. 1999. Web. 20 Aug. 2010. Tabacoff, Boris, and Paula L. Hoffman. "Animal Modes in Academic Research." Alcohol Research and Health 24.3 (2002): 77-84. EBSCO. Web. 20 Aug 2010.
Topic Your assignment is for the research paper: • Choose an issue affecting today's society and determine the alternate representations. Pick the side of the narrative "truth" that you believe is best supported and write an analysis of the condition or element examined in relation to the representation of that "truth" in society.
What does this mean? Example: A research paper should pick a side on a debate and investigate the claims and supports of both sides. Global warming Cell phones causing cancer
What is a condition or element? In Cold Blood examples: • Capital Punishment • Victims' and survivors' rights • Childhood events in relation to adult actions • Role and representation of law enforcement • Role and representation of journalists in crime reportage
What is a condition or element? The Right Stuff examples • Treatment of the "American Hero" • The Cold War in relation to the Space Race • Animal rights • Changing gender roles in the space program • Military Wives
What is a condition or element? Medical: Anti-depressant use Autism Social Issues: Gun Control Teen Pregnancy Education opportunities
Research Paper Topic Proposal Generator: What are you interested in? Scan through the headings on the syllabus Scan through your books Talk to your family, friends, and co-workers. Example: I want to write about the changing roles of fathers.
Prewrite and Topics Using the guidelines on the handout, generate a typed, paragraph/page freewriting/rough draft on the topic that you select. Write about how you are planning on approaching your topic, and give an idea of how you will organize it. Don't worry too much about grammar on this assignment.
They Say, I Say p.29 #1 • a. Our experiments suggest that there are dangerous levels of chemical x in the Kern River. • While they rarely admit as much, citizens often take for granted the safety of drinking water. However, our experiments suggest that there are dangerous levels of chemical x in the Kern River.